Second Chances

Second Chances
By Hero541
Chapter 3: Who Are You All?

Josh, for the second time in recent memory, awoke with a headache that threatened to split his skull. That was one fucked up dream he thought, scratching his head and rising up from his laying position. He opened his eyes for the first time since getting up and looked around the room. Everything within seemed to be smaller than the objects in a normal house. The dresser, the vanity, even the doors were smaller. It was almost like he was in a dollhouse.

Josh rose out of bed, glad that the ceiling wasn’t low enough to hit his head on, as he previously suspected. He walked around the room a little, taking in his rather unusual surroundings. He heard what sounded like hooves against wood, and turned to the door. As he did so, the orange pony with the hat from before opened it up and stepped inside. Josh, who now realized he either wasn’t dreaming, or it was still going on, stumbled backwards a little.

“Whoa now,” said the orange pony, raising a hoof to attempt to calm down the startled human, “we don’t need you collapsin’ again. You’ve already done that twice today.”

Josh, unsure of what to say, or how to say it, simply opened and closed his mouth several times, before he finally spoke.

“Y…you’re…a…p-p-pony.” he said, pointing at her, absolute confusion flooding his mind.

“That I am.” replied the mare, walking a little closer to Josh and smiling, “The name’s Applejack. What’s yours?”

Josh stammered a little, confusion stealing his words. Applejack continued to smile up at him as he fumbled with his speech, unable to determine if it was a good idea to speak to this mare or simply remain quiet.

“J-Josh. My name’s…Josh.” he finally managed to say.

“Well, pleased to meet ya, Josh.” said Applejack, reaching out a hoof once more for him to shake.

Josh hesitated a little, then slowly reached his hand out, took the orange hoof, and gently shook it.

Applejack smiled wide as he broke the handshake.

“Glad we got that out of the way!” she said excitedly, stepping back from Josh.

Josh stood once more, looking down on Applejack from his vantage point. She stared up at him, her bright green eyes almost piercing into his soul, and an almost sickeningly sweet smile etched across her face. For awhile, human and pony simply looked at one another, the former with a mix of fear and confusion, the latter almost with excitement.

“Where am I?” asked Josh finally, breaking eye contact with Applejack and looking around once more.

“Sweet Apple Acres, of course,” she replied, happily sweeping her hoof across the room as if to present it to him, “Provider of the best apples this side of Equestria!”

Josh paused his looking around the room and once again stared at the orange pony before him, confusion etched across his face.

“Equestria? What the fuck is Equestria?”

Applejack looked a little taken aback at his sudden use of profanity.

“There’s no need for language like that.”

Josh inwardly frowned at Applejack. Who was she to tell him what he could and couldn’t say? Did I really just get corrected by a fucking redneck pony? However, he quickly realized that he wasn’t going to get any answers by being an ass and decided not to voice his thought.

“Sorry. What is Equestria, then?” he said, removing the profanity this time and rolling his eyes.

Applejack’s eyes shone with confusion, and she tilted her head.

“What?” asked Josh, glaring a little at the pony, “I really don’t know.”

“Where’re you from?” asked Applejack.

Josh thought about it. He wasn’t sure how to phrase the truth to her, and even more unsure if she’d believe him. Might as well give it a shot.

“I’m from a place called America. More specifically, Oregon.” he answered, praying that’d satisfy the mare’s question, “Now, it’s your turn. What’s Equestria? Is that where I am now?”

Applejack still wore a confused look as another pony walked in through the door. This one was a bright red stallion, big and muscular, with a big green apple half tattooed on his flanks.

“Hey, AJ. Granny Smith wanted to know if ya’ll…”

The pony trailed off at the sight of Josh standing there. For awhile, the two simply stared at each other, one sizing the other up. Neither one of them said a single word as they simply continued to give one another a thorough once over. Finally, Applejack broke the silence.

“Mac, this here’s Josh. Josh, this’s my big brother, Big Macintosh.” she said, gesturing between the pony and confused human.

It took awhile, but eventually, they both reached out a forelimb and acknowledged each other.

“Nice ta meet ya, Josh.” said Mac, an uneasy look still painting his crimson face.

Josh simply nodded, and looked between the two ponies. Applejack was still smiling up at him, while Big Mac was simply staring again. For fucks sake thought Josh, could at least one of you answer my goddamn question?

“So,” said Applejack, breaking the long and awkward silence, “would ya’ll care to stay for a little breakfast?”

Josh looked to Applejack once more, noticing her smile was becoming a little more forced with every minute the silence persisted. Nobody (or pony) seemed to be ultimately comfortable with the situation at hand.

“I think I’m good.” Josh said, attempting what he thought was a friendly smile, “I just need to find a way to get home. More than likely, it’ll just be better if I leave.”

“You sure, sugarcube?” asked Applejack, concern etched across her face.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure.”

“Well,” said Applejack, scratching the back of her head nervously with a hoof, “if you’re certain...”

Josh simply nodded, and both ponies parted to allow him to walk through the small door. Josh ducked down so as to avoid hitting his head, and made for the nearest exit. He didn’t care anymore what this Equestria was, or how he got here, or any of that shit. He just wanted to get home. He had no idea how he was gonna do so, but the sooner he started looking for a way out, the sooner he could leave.

He made it down the stairs to the living room of the farmhouse, and looked around. It was a rather small area, then again, everything was smaller here to him. There was little in the way of furnishings, but what was there seemed sturdy and well built. Amazingly, not once did the thought cross his mind as to why these ponies had a house, complete with bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and other human amenities. He also didn’t give two shits.

As he made his way to the door, he heard the sound of hoofsteps coming towards him, figuring it was either Applejack or Big Mac coming down to see him off, he turned to at least thank them for their momentary hospitality. However, when he looked down, all he saw was a small yellow filly with a strawberry mane that had a giant pink bow in it.

“Hey there!” said the filly, smiling hugely up at Josh and holding out her small hoof, “You must be that nice fella my sister and her friends found this morning.”

Josh looked down at the tiny pony, who still had her hoof outstretched and a giant smile on her face.

“That I am.” he said, kneeling to grab the filly’s hoof in his own hand, gently shaking it.

“Do ya’ll got a name?” asked the pony, lowering her hoof and still smiling at Josh.

“Yeah. It’s Josh. Who’re you?”

“I’m Apple Bloom!” she happily said, turning to see Applejack and Big Mac come down the stairs and join her in the living room.

“Do all of you have a name associated with apples or something?” asked Josh, looking to the blonde maned orange mare once again.

“Well, yeah. I suppose we do.” Applejack chuckled.

Josh rolled his eyes a little, standing up and preparing to leave once more.

“By the way,” he said over his shoulder as his hand reached for the door, “thanks for the bed and stuff.”

“Wait!” shouted Apple Bloom.

Josh, now pretty annoyed with the tiny yellow pony, turned once more to look down at her.

“Yes?” he said, patience of any kind failing to enter his voice.

“Aren’t ya’ll gonna stay for breakfast?” she asked, her eyes growing wide and her lower lip quivering in a pouty way.

Josh almost got diabetes right there from the cuteness of the look on the filly’s face. He tried his best to ignore her, but
even when he blinked, all he could see was that sad little face peering up at him expectantly.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, trying to look away, to no avail, “Stop doing that!”

Apple Bloom persisted still, actually managing to become cuter somehow. After what seemed like an eternity of her looking at him, he broke.

“Fine,” he sighed, “I’ll stay for breakfast.”

Apple Bloom’s face changed once more to its original look of pure happiness, and she ran into the kitchen, calling as she went, “Hey! Granny Smith! Set another place for Josh!”

Josh looked to Applejack and Big Mac, both of whom were snickering silently.

“Does she do that to everyone who comes into this goddamn house?” he asked, walking up to the two ponies and frowning slightly.

“You should count yourself lucky.” said Applejack, beaming up at him as they made their way into the kitchen, “Most ponies can’t even take a second of that before they break!”